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Soph

Having Neal disconnected from her life by thick, metal elevator doors was not the last image of him Sara wanted to remember, so when Neal stepped into the elevator, she turned away in time before the doors closed. She was now facing the Raphael painting that was resting – peaceful, almost seeming smug – on an easel, just a few feet away from her. A painting with a history that - just five minutes ago - she was a part of.

Five minutes ago, Sara had imagined how people would speak of her and Neal as unlikely lovers brought closer by it. Now, if people would speak of her at all, they would speak of how he left but she was the one who abandoned him.

Is that what she wanted? To be remembered as the woman who lived and empty life? One who was fearless, adventurous and feisty, but only on paper? One who was too afraid to be brave and bold when it mattered?

"Yeah…" she mused softly to herself as she realized she wasn't too happy with the answer to those questions: No, of course not. But taking this giant step went against every single rule she had made for herself and honored so honestly for so many years.

"Ok," she encouraged herself, all the while realizing she was actually talking to herself right now, "let's do it."

She picked up her purse from the floor and ran to the stairway of the Sterling Bosch office building. She stopped for a second when she reached the first staircase to kick off her high heals. She quickly bent to pick them up and lift her tight, off-white, pencil skirt as high as it would go up her thighs. There were so many things she wanted to before she left. So many things she wanted to take with her. So many people she wanted to say goodbye to. But she knew there was no time. Neal had a good thirty-second head start and even if she hurried as fast as she could, she didn't know if she would ever catch up on him.

Sara raced down the stairs and as soon as she reached the ground floor she spotted the back entrance door click in it's lock, just in time. She pushed herself to go faster and almost violently pushed the door open, only for it to bounce back almost immediately, after it hit something.

"Ow!" she heard someone object to the pain the force of the door had caused.

Sara gasped in shock and stepped away from behind the door, "Are you ok- Neal?" she asked surprised, he was the last person she expected to stand right outside the door

"Sara?"

"What are you.." she started but stopped herself as Neal was still rubbing the now red spot on his forehead, "God, I'm so sorry, I had no idea you were out here. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he grunted, "I'll survive."

"Here, let me, " she stepped closer and put the back of her hand on Neal's forehead, "cold hands, remember?" She let out a short, awkward laugh and hoped he wouldn't notice the effect their close proximity had on her.

"Right," his lips formed a smile at the memories.

"What were you doing here?"

"I almost stepped out of the alley when I saw a Marshall across the street. I don't think he saw me, I'm not even sure he's here for me, but I figured I'd better hide out here till he's gone," he explained, never leaving her gaze, and then he remembered: "What are you doing here?"

"Chasing you," she admitted.

"Why?" He tried to hide it, but the bubbly feeling of hope that had formed inside him had expressed itself in a half smile on his face.

Sara's eyes copied Neal's and turned brighter with excitement, "I'm coming with you."

"Are you sure?" he put his hand over hers and lowered it down from his forehead, holding it between them, "Sara, there is no coming back after this."

She nodded, "I know, I know. But… I don't wanna play it safe anymore. Playing it safe means death threats on a daily base. It means being surrounded by ungratefulness and pettiness. I wanna take a risk. A real one this time."

Neal hesitated for a second. Wasn't he being too selfish?

"Neal, don't worry about it. Let's go!"

"Alright," he decided, "Let's go see if that Marshall's still out there."

They reached the edge of the alley and Neal gently pushed Sara behind him. With their backs pressed to the wall he tried to scan the crowd and search for the agent.

"Wait," Sara interrupted his concentration, "That's Mr. Bosch' dry cleaning delivery service."

"So?"

"So… he has a van."

"Smart," he complimented, "but how are we going to cross the street without being noticed and how do we make sure the deliverer doesn't spot us?"

Sara shrugged easily as she made sure not to make eye contact with Neal: "He likes me."

Neal rolled his eyes, "Of course he does."

"Okay, you wait here, I'll go chat him up and see if Ricky's feeling flirty today."

"Seriously?" Neal raised his eyebrow at Sara before focusing his attention back at the tall, muscular, spray-tanned and dark haired man right outside the van, "Ricky? That's his name?"

"What are you looking like that at me for? I'm not his mother."

"Fine," he gave in, but not without sighing obviously in discontent, "I'll wait."

Sara took a moment to straighten her skirt, she shook out her hair and made sure her off-white stilettos were clean. She look down to make sure everything was in place and decided last minute to open another button on her blouse.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Mr. Caffrey, jealousy is a deadly sin."

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure vanity is somewhere on that list too," he spat back.

"Oh please, like you're one to talk." She stepped out of the alley before giving Neal a chance to reply. She knew it was going to be awkward, having to flirt with Neal watching her every move. She could almost feel his eyes burning in the back of her head.

"Oh hey Ricky! Good morning." she called out for his attention as she was approaching him.

"Mm, good morning indeed," his low and heavy voice alone was a disgusting thing to listen to without his eyes looking her up and down. She knew immediately that he was undressing her in his mind as he's been doing since the first time she met him.

"How are you?" She asked politely, making sure she wouldn't get too close.

"Good, now that you're here." He scanned her up and down once more and ended his sentence with a wink. Gross.

"Oh, you're such a flirt!" Sara spat out in the most girly voice she could muster. She just hoped and prayed that the city noises would prevent Neal from hearing this conversation.

"Guilty as charged," he laughed while throwing his hand up in mock defeat, "So what's up honey, whatcha doin?"

Sara took a step closer, put her hand on his upper arm and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I need your help."

"Ooh, interesting. What can I do for you and how much would you appreciate that, huh?"

"You see, my friend and I are being followed by this psycho-"

"Oh you need me to beat 'm up for you?" Sara saw how the excitement spread across his face as he bumped his fist into the palm of his other hand, "Then maybe you and your little friend could thank me, huh?" he winked.

It took all she had to suppress the shiver that ran down her spine at those words. Gross. Again.

"No, no! No beating anybody up. I was just wondering if you could park your van right in front of that alley right there," she turned to point towards the alley and could see how annoyance was spread all across Neal's tightened face. She quickly shot him an apologetic look before turning back to Ricky, "and then we could get in without him noticing?"

"Whoa, whoa wait," Ricky put his hands up and backed away, "you didn't tell me your little friend was a dude!"

Crap.

"Oh, what, him?" she tried to laugh it off, "Oh God no! He's gay."

Ricky contemplated that for a second and then stepped closer again. "Alright then. What's in it for me?"

Sara leaned in again, "Don't worry, you won't be disappointed," she whispered in his ear.

Ricky beamed up and hit his fist in his palm again. "Alright, I can do that. I'll be there in a minute."

"Thank you so much." Sara gave him a little wink before turning around on her heels and making sure Ricky had something good to look at.

"I'd rather have lemon juice sprayed into my eyes than to ever witness something like that again," Neal objected, "I thought douches like that only existed in classless movies."

"Yeh? Well that's cause you men generally don't have to deal with douches like that. Another burden us women take off your plate."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience." Neal spat back sarcastically, not quite ready to be sympathetic yet.

"Would you focus? He's gonna park the van here, we can get in and get to June's without anybody noticing," she took a look at her watch and saw that it was already 7 am, "what time did you have your meeting with the board today?"

"8:30."

"So that gives us about an hour and a half before they actively start looking for you. You did say they were waiting for you at the FBI building right?"

"Yes, but I don't know if Kramer's willing to wait that long. We have to move quick, can't take any risks. I have an emergency bag packed at June's. I'm sorry but we can't stop by your place to pack."

"That's okay, I can buy everything I need on the road."

"I think I have few new toothbrushes and there's still some of your stuff in my bathroom, so-"

"You never got rid of it?"

He looked up, surprised by her question. He never thought much about it, but now that she mentioned it…

"No, I guess I haven't."

She didn't know what that meant exactly, but whatever it was, it caused her to feel warm inside. She took his hand in hers and rubbed the back of it affectionately, "That's..."

Their moment was interrupted by the van closing the exit of the alley. Sara quickly let go of Neal's hand and when he looked at her in surprise she quickly whispered: "By the way, you're gay."

For the second time, she didn't give Neal a chance to reply as he was standing there, almost in shock as to what he heard. She quickly got into the back of the van to avoid whatever objection he was about to give her.